1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fume hood with an adjustable baffle assembly, and more particularly to a fume hood with a plurality of baffle plates releasably secured to the housing of the fume hood with securing brackets which allow adjusting of at least one baffle plate to vary the gap or distance between it and another plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typically, fume hoods must exhaust both lighter than air and heavier than air fumes. To exhaust lighter than air fumes, a fume hood should include a baffle system which allows the blower of the fume hood to pull air from an upper portion of the hood chamber. To exhaust heavier than air fumes, the baffle system should allow the blower to pull air from a bottom portion of the hood chamber.
The prior art includes a variety of fume hoods with baffle systems for evacuating the hood chamber of fumes. These prior fume hoods use complicated housing and baffle arrangements with close tolerance components. Producing these prior fume hoods requires accurate and expensive fabrication procedures as well as complicated and time-consuming assembly processes.
The fume hood of the present invention provides a simple baffle structure, including baffle plates releasably secured to the fume hood's housing along the rear wall of the chamber defined by the housing. It includes support structures which allow quick assembly and adjustment of at least one baffle plate to a plurality of positions so that the operator may direct the pull of the fume hood blower to various locations of the hood's chamber. These support structures also allow easy removal of the baffle plates for cleaning or repair. The baffle assembly is a simple arrangement which provides precise and reliable performance and minimizes the expense of manufacture and assembly.